Everybody's there – at the European Club Cup in Turkey

by ChessBase
10/4/2007 – The 23rd European Club Cup for Men and the 12th European Club Cup for Women are taking place from October 2nd to 10th in Kemer, Antalya, Turkey. There are 56 teams participating in the men's section and 18 teams in the women's. You won't believe how many world class stars are participating. We bring you a first report with a video of the opening ceremony.

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Amongst the players (some of whom are arriving late) we have spotted, in no particular order, Anand, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Carlsen, Karjakin, Kamsky, Radjabov, Shirov, Girschuk, Kasimdzhanov, Bologan, Short, Atalik, Adams, Ponomariov, Mamedyarov, Morozevich, van Wely, Sasikiran; and in the women's section Humpy, Cramling, Zhu Chen, Stefanova, Skripchenko, Chiburdanidze, Lahno, Hou Yifan; and many others. It is really a giant event with a collection of stars you only otherwise see at Olympiads.

The Opening Ceremony took place in Limra Hotel on October 2nd 2007. During the ceremony FIDE Vice President and CEO of Global Chess BV Geoffrey Borg, TCF President Ali Nihat Yazici, ECU Board Member Werner Stubenvoll and Deputy Governor of Antalya Fazli Akgün delivered protocol speeches. There was also an impressive openings ceremony stage presentation with song and dance.

Video of opening ceremony – the video in WMV format is 25 MB in size and takes a while to download. You can watch a shorter (3.3 MB) version here. It is quite exhilarating to watch the joy and enthusiasm of the dancers in this modern Muslim nation.

To get you started on this exciting event we provide you with the following useful links:


Picture gallery

By Andreas Albers


The venue of the European Club Championship in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey


The living quarters of the participants


With temperatures at 30-35°C the pool is an important accessory in this event


The dance performances at the opening ceremony


Drums play an important role in these stage performances


Lights and colours, grace and enthusiasm


The playing hall – actually a small part of one of the sites


Grischuk and Shirov playing on boards 2 and 3 of Ural Sverdlovskaya (Radjabov is board one)


Vassily Ivanchuk, currently numer two in the world


Viktor Bologan playing for Tomsk-400


Who is this grandmaster playing for Linex Magic?


Yep, Brooklyn boy Gata Kamsky


Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Tomsk-400) with Teimour Radjabov (Ural Sverdlovskaya) in the background


Kateryna Lahno, Yifan Hou and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya playing for Southern Ural Cheliabinsk


Natalia Zhukova (wife of Alexander Grischuk) playing for T-Com Podgorica


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